Commit to making changes, says tax expert

By Natasha Beckles | Sun, January 29, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Stakeholders in Barbados’ international business sector have been assured that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) does not expect legislative changes to be made overnight.

International tax expert Dr Shee Boon Law gave this assurance last Tuesday as Minister of International Business and International Transport George Hutson reported that Government was working to comply with the recommendations of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

The principal research associate in tax services of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation who previously worked with the OECD, said it was accepted that the process of ensuring compliance is lengthy.

He was speaking during a seminar on Regional Tax Treaties, Tax Information Exchange Agreements And OECD Standards hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) and Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

“They don’t really expect you to solve everything tomorrow. What you need to do, I think, when you go through this process is to show that you are committed to [making amendments],” he said.

In his feature address, the minister noted that Government had put a number of measures in place to improve its standing in the international business community, and to facilitate the growth of the sector.

He said the new measures should see a substantial improvement from last year’s low rating by the Global Forum which analyzes the legislative environment for transparency and exchange of tax information in several jurisdictions and examines how their systems operate in practice.